Updating for 5e could involve regional backgrounds, clerical subclasses, alternate class features, or feats for specific deities, an old faith Bard subclass, famous NPC conversions, write ups for places of mystery that have not been done before, more conversions of famous modules, new modules, updated magical items, and updated history for pc races that were not around at the time of the original boxed sets, or details of the Far West.
Dragon Talk Interview with Kate Welch re Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Paul Farquhar
Legend
By it's very nature Greyhawk is a CORE RULES setting. Sure, you could start adding that stuff, if you wanted the setting's fans to burn you with fire for messing with their favourite setting.
Sure, that would be good anyway. So you have filled half a page.
Given the lack of novels, Greyhawk NPCs are slightly less famous than last year's reality TV stars and exist only as names with maybe a class attached.
I don't see much point in statting NPCs in any setting, anyway. If the players aren't going to kill it it doesn't need stats.
All of them, then.
There are exactly ZERO famous modules that actually make use of the Greyhawk setting. They are all generic, and where located in Greyhawk because that was the official setting at the time of publication. It makes no business sense whatsoever to publish them as anything other than "setting agnostic".
Nearly every magic item in the 5e DMG is a Greyhawk item.
Shoehorning in Dragonborn seems like a good way to provoke apoplexy in Greyhawk fans.
Congrats. You have just made Trigger's Broom. A 99% completely new campaign setting with the word Greyhawk attached.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
I actually really love the old Greyahwk boxed set, which I have a PDF copy of and is 100% 5E compatible, but this seems like a good rundown of what went wrong with the 3E implementation of Greyhawk as the ostensible "core setting."
Parmandur
Book-Friend
That said, if I it was my job to brainstorm a viable 5E Greyhawk product, I would start with Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica as a templatte, mixing it with the Gygax boxed set:
-Possibly include all or most of the material from the box set, ala Curse of Strahd and Castle Ravenlost or Ghosts of Saltmarsh and U1-3.
-Make it a Sword & Sorcery, gonzo old fashioned pulp genre book: crashed spaceships, embrace Gygax's sense of humor, "Appendix N" etc.
-New PC and Race that are generic stuff, yes, that can be used in other settings: expand the game, give non-Greyhawk players a reason to check it out
- Expanded adventure generation material expanding on chapters 3-6 of the DMG, such as we see in Ravnica, riffing on the pulpy old school vibe, including possibly Megadungeon generation rules expanding on the DMG
- More magic items and spells from 1E that have fallen by the wayside, to create that 70's-80's gameplay feel
- Bestiary of old 1E monsters that have not been included in subsequent editions
I think a legit, large hardback expansion of the PHB, MM and DMG can be made that would offer a different flavor.
-Possibly include all or most of the material from the box set, ala Curse of Strahd and Castle Ravenlost or Ghosts of Saltmarsh and U1-3.
-Make it a Sword & Sorcery, gonzo old fashioned pulp genre book: crashed spaceships, embrace Gygax's sense of humor, "Appendix N" etc.
-New PC and Race that are generic stuff, yes, that can be used in other settings: expand the game, give non-Greyhawk players a reason to check it out
- Expanded adventure generation material expanding on chapters 3-6 of the DMG, such as we see in Ravnica, riffing on the pulpy old school vibe, including possibly Megadungeon generation rules expanding on the DMG
- More magic items and spells from 1E that have fallen by the wayside, to create that 70's-80's gameplay feel
- Bestiary of old 1E monsters that have not been included in subsequent editions
I think a legit, large hardback expansion of the PHB, MM and DMG can be made that would offer a different flavor.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
Actually looking through the list of Greyhawk adventures past, most of them seem to be silly spoofs. The only so-far unrepublished adventure worthy of the name "classic" (and having the grimdark tone WotC are trying to associate with Greyhawk) I can find is the Slavelords sequence (A1-4). But that could easily be made setting agnostic for a broader appeal.
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Silly spoof and dark pulp are both a legit part of the campy feel of old Sword & Sorcery fiction, which D&D was going for originally. Sure, any adventure can be put in any setting, that's D&D too. Classic Greyhawk modules that have not been republished for 5E:
-Against the Cult of the Reptile God
-The City of Skulls
-Descent into the Depths of the Earth
-Dwellers of the Forbidden City
-Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
-The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
-The Ghost Tower of Inverness
-The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
-Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure
-Queen of the Demonweb Pits
-The Secret of Bone Hill
-The Temple of Elemental Evil
-Tomb of the Lizard King
-Vault of the Drow
-The Village of Hommlet
I would expect any of those to be potentially part of any future book along the liens of Saltmarsh or Yawning Portal. Sure, they can all be put into other settings, and only the 2E City of Skulls really makes use of any sort of Greyhawk specific metaplot (2E, ya know?). This isn't even getting into any 3.x era modules that people loved.
Hmm, I think you've demonstrated that you personally don't have much knowledge of Greyhawk or its history. Many of its famous NPCs are people you might want to kill (Eclavdra, Dragotha, the Slave Lords, Aulicus, the Falcon, Brazemal, Iuz, Zuggtmoy, Lolth, Vecna, Kas, Rary, Robilar, Iggwilv, some of whom have been ported as generic characters but the same can be said of any NPC) but I personally also enjoy write ups of well known characters like the Circle of Eight or even versions of the old 1e pregen characters from the original modules like Gleep Wurp the Eyebiter.
You clearly have no interest or personal history with the setting but many of us were there first time round and would love some updated material even if I can't see the point in rehashing the fluff for 5e.
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I absolutely do have a personal history with the setting. That's how come I know it was garbage, inferior to the previously published City State of the Invincible Overload, or what my 12 year old self could cobble together in an old exercise book.
Interesting, although you have hit the nail on the head in one sense: Greyhawk was a great basic chassis upon which even a 12 year old could layer their own vision. My Greyhawk campaign will be 30 years old next year. I've even cobbled together 12" action figures of our long running PCs ready for the anniversary. No setting will suit everyone but that doesn't mean we should be opposed to those settings getting a new gloss of paint.
TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
You want to post pictures of these.... /end Charm Person spell.
